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CMU Approved
Approved: Zomby
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 7 July 2011
There’s no shortage of mysterious producers in dance music at the moment, but still there’s something about Zomby that singles him out.
On the one hand, he’s known as a nameless guy who sometimes fails to show up for gigs and generally refuses interviews. But on the odd occasions he does speak to journalists, he comes across as being very open and enthusiastic. The more you discover, the more you get the feeling that is aloofness is more down to an inability to concentrate, rather than a desire to appear unapproachable.
Clearly he can concentrate long enough to create a cohesive album though, as his debut, ‘Where Were U In 92’, and the follow-up, ‘Dedication’, which is released by 4AD on Monday both prove. Though in the three years that separate the two LPs, Zomby’s attention has shifted away from airhorn-heavy early 90s rave to something more sombre and introspective.
Also, less than half of the tracks on ‘Dedication’ break two and a half minutes, and at times they can feel like ideas that weren’t quite fully formed. But even as a glimpse into Zomby’s world, the standards are high, and despite being sixteen tracks in length, the album doesn’t feel bloated. You can download one of its lengthier tracks, ‘A Devil Lay Here’, here, and stream the collaboration with Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, ‘Things Fall Apart’, here:
